Epilogue 2
Krashe
A lot of things were different at Ahoshaga, the ancestral caves that housed the outcasts we now lived with.
Vera and Zathar were the official leaders together for instance.
I had never heard of a joint leadership like that before, but it worked.
Though any big decision-making went democratically as Naomi called it.
We’d gather around the fire and all talk about it, giving our opinions, and then we got to vote on it.
I’d spent the first few days when we got here dancing around the subject of the war between Bitter Storm and Thunder Rock too.
Preferring to share work with Mox from Copper Tooth rather than risk being alone with one of the three Thunder Rock males.
Then the girls and the one human male, Reid, had put a stop to that natural division.
“We need to put aside former Clans,” Vera had declared. “We’re a new Clan now, and old loyalties can be remembered, but our first loyalty must be to each other.” Then my mate, my brave, clever Naomi had declared that we should pick a name for our new Clan to help with that.
We’d talked, we’d voted, and now we were calling ourselves Outcast Haven.
Word had already gone out before Naomi and I had even gotten here that Outcasts from other Clans could come to us and see if they were a fit.
Dozens had flocked from the surrounding areas, and I knew more were to come.
All of them males, though not from Bitter Storm.
I realized then how lucky I was that I had Naomi with me, it had meant an instant acceptance into their group because they knew I would always protect the humans.
The other males that started to trickle in?
They were welcomed but not into the caves, first they had to prove themselves.
We had tents springing up on the edge of the clearing, and hunting parties going out to stock the cave.
My contribution had been the design of a wood wall to span the stone walled funnel.
A protection that would separate our human-filled village from the aspirants, and protect us from possible attacks from Bitter Storm or other Clans.
Thunder Rock and Copper Tooth hadn’t been any more welcoming of the humans than my Clan had been.
Naomi worked to fit in, to contribute in any way she could, mostly by feeding all the hungry mouths with her delicious cooking.
So I could do nothing but the same, to do that I needed to clear the air so I’d asked to speak with Zathar alone and explained all the circumstances surrounding the attack on his former Clan, and my part in it.
“A hungry Clan, hungry younglings. I wish I could say that you should have tried to offer trade with Thunder Rock, but I can’t.
My mother would have blocked any such attempts.
I don’t like that this happened, but I can see why it felt like the only option.
Now what? What can we do to see those younglings with full bellies again?
” Zathar’s selfless offer to see younglings fed of a Clan he didn’t even like…
That made me feel like I could fit in here at last, this was a male of honor, integrity.
Sketching out more diagrams in the dirt with a stick, I explained to the three Copper Tooth males that I was working with what kind of trees I needed them to fell. The outcast aspirants were young and old, but all eager to just be part of something again. That was a feeling I well understood.
Then my tongue flicked out when I caught a particular scent and all three males grinned and melted away into the woods.
Hopefully, to do the task I had assigned them.
Spinning around I watched as Naomi came out of the cave entrance.
She couldn’t walk unassisted yet, her leg muscles weren’t quite strong enough but getting stronger every day.
She was walking with the crutch I’d carved out of wood for her, her arm linked with Kalani on the other side.
Cosima, a small red-headed female trailed after them with a determined expression on her ‘freckle’ covered face.
Red and orange little dots covered much of her skin; I’d been surprised by how much variation there was among humans.
Seeing my mate make steady progress in relearning how to walk was so satisfying.
I waited patiently in place as she made it to my position.
Kiwi was running at her feet, his tiny shape scuttling jewel green along the dark purple grass.
She beamed proudly at me when she came to a stop and then she dropped both the crutch and Kalani’s arm and threw herself into my arms.
“How are you today? You didn’t even wake me when you left our bed this morning.
Sorry, I mean nest.” Only because she was sleeping so sweetly and she’d been working so damn hard, pushing her body every day to get better, stronger.
She had cramps in her legs each night from it that I tried my best to massage away.
She had blisters on her feet from her shoes not fitting right and rubbing too hard.
Her ability to control her lower legs and feet had returned before her ability to feel, she’d injured herself before either of us had noticed.
She assured me it was going to heal, and Corin had a healing device like the Shaman, he’d taken care of her and assured us that the nerves were growing back slowly with the assistance of the chip.
I swept her into my arms, lifting her clear off her legs so that she could take a break.
“I’m good, Naomi. Better now that you’re in my arms.” Behind her back I saw how Kalani poked Cosima with a grin and the two girls jogged away without a word, granting us a bit of privacy.
I took instant advantage of that by curling the tip of my tail up around her ankle, over her leg.
She still had intermittent sensation there but it was getting better each day, we both loved checking how much she felt.
Feeling a little naughty, I didn’t stop there and flicked the tip of my tail up against her core between our bodies in a tease. “I will make it up to you later, I will pleasure you until you see the stars from which you came.” Her arousal filled the air and her radiant smile filled my heart.
I was just about to toss responsibility to the wind for a few hours and drag her to my nest right now.
But shouts went up lower down Ahoshaga’s slope where a handful of aspirants were driving the first poles of my wall into the ground.
Kiwi screeched from the ground and flew up into the air, causing both Naomi and me to stare up after him.
A huge shape flew over our heads, blocking out the Serant sun and casting a giant shadow on the ground. Kiwi was a bright green silhouette against the bottom, the exact same silhouette as the shadow, only minuscule compared to it.
“Dragon…” Naomi breathed in awe. But those shouts from before were followed by more voices from downhill.
And while worry clawed through me at the size and shape of such a giant beast, and at Kiwi fearlessly winging up toward it, more fear struck me when I could make out the words coming from below.
“Bitter Storm warriors! We’re under attack!”
THE END